A soft and chewy snack bar full of healthy nuts & blueberries, that are low in sugar and come together in 20 minutes!
Can a person ever have too many snack bar recipes?
Naw, I didn’t think so!
Whether you’re two, twenty, or a hundred, if you’re like 99% of the people I talk to, snacks are a key component of your day!
And if you’re like 97.5% of the people I talk to, you get bored of your snacking go-tos.
Thankfully, these only take 10 minutes to stir together and 10 minutes to bake so you’ll quickly be on your way to reversing snack time boredom!
These snack bars stay soft because they’re made with almond flour instead of whole almonds! The inspiration for this recipe came from trying the Good To Go snack bars. So if you’re less of the DIY kind, or you love this recipe but life gets busy and you want a pre-made option, go ahead and order some from their website!
And… full confession… when I say “inspired by”, I mean I looked at their ingredient list and created a recipe that mimicked their nutritional profile. (insert grin face emoji!)
It’s a little dangerous to send a recipe developer samples. #justsayin
Why These Blueberry Almond Snack Bars are a Smart Choice
I’m a huge fan of nuts for both health and power eating. Eating a handful of nuts has been shown to improve heart health, prevent type two diabetes, and people who food cultures that eat a lot of nuts, like those that surround the Mediterranean, tend to live longer, healthier lives!
Power eating is when you strategically choose foods that are going to keep you feeling fuller for longer. Indirectly, you tend to eat fewer calories when you focus on power eating because you’re providing your body with a steady flow of energy instead of a rollercoaster ride of chasing your hunger.
Key nutrients in power eating are protein, fat, and fibre… ALL of which are found in nuts!
What is Monk Fruit and Erythritol?
Both monk fruit and erythritol are both considered “non-nutritive sweeteners”, which is just a fancy term that means they contain virtually no calories in amounts typically eaten.
Monk fruit extract is naturally isolated from (shocker!) the monk fruit, native to south asia.
Erythritol is found naturally in foods such as melons but in such small amounts, it’s not worth decimating a whole fruit to isolate it! Erythritol can be mass produced by fermenting glucose, typically sourced from corn. On it’s own, erythritol can have a menthol aftertaste, which is why it is often paired with another sweetener, like monk fruit extract.
Not sure where to get monk fruit/erythritol blend? Right now I’ve been able to get it at Costco but you could also buy it here on Amazon.
Soft Baked Blueberry Almond Snack Bars
Equipment
- coffee grinder
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp chia seeds
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup dried blueberries
- 1/4 cup monk fruit/erythritol blend OR 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Grind the chia seeds in a coffee grinder until powdery.
- Mix all the ingredients together.
- Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and press the mixture in as evenly as possible.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Allow to cool fully before slicing into 10 bars.
- Store in the fridge (will keep for 1-2 weeks).
Nutrition
Of course, since you really can’t have too many snack recipes, here are some more!
I made these, using dried strawberries. The 3 TBSP (pre ground) of chia seed seems like a lot to me. The whole batter is spotted with seed powder. In the Good to Go bars, I don’t even recall noticing chia seed in them. They were also a more brown tone than what this ended up being. I wonder how theirs turned out like that? Anyway, these are still food but I might do less seed next time. Oh I also added a bit more water, maybe 3 T more. It was really dry when mixing.
Hi! The Good to Go bars utilize tapioca fibre, which isn’t readily available to purchase for the home cook. This is why I used chia seeds instead, which of course will add some colour to the bars.
Really great! A nice alternative since we eat so many oats… FYI, I didn’t have any dried blueberries so I used dried apricot that I cut up quite small, and I didn’t have the monk fruit stuff so I used date paste! I don’t know if they ended up tasting how they are supposed to but they were very good!
Those sound like delicious additions! Thanks for sharing!